What Is the Facebook Pixel?
The Facebook Pixel is code embedded into a website that links visitors’ onsite behavior to Facebook user profiles. This sync between a website visitor and their Facebook account enables the social media platform to retarget those individuals with relevant ads. Additionally, it can be used to track the actions individuals take when they return to the website.
In Facebook’s own words, this code “is an analytics tool that allows you to measure the effectiveness of your advertising by understanding the actions people take on your website.”
While the Facebook Pixel is indeed used to “understand the actions people take” on websites, this definition is perhaps a bit incomplete. Because it uses this data to assign people to different target groups that will be engaged with ads later on.
No matter where the Facebook Pixel ends and Facebook advertising takes over, you get the idea. The Facebook Pixel:
- Lives inside of websites
- Tracks people’s actions while they’re there
- Gives advertisers the ability to target them on Facebook properties
- And enables companies to track the effectiveness of their paid social media campaigns
How Does the Facebook Pixel Work?
We’re going to get technical for a minute here. It won’t be painful – there will be lots of pictures and not a lot of jargon. But if you want to skip ahead to How to Install Facebook Pixel or How Do You Target People With the Facebook Pixel, no hard feelings.
Still here? Great. Now, let’s do some shopping!
We’re going to visit two stores today. The first is Esprit. The other is Nike. There is nothing unusual about these stores; they are simply being used to represent ecommerce in general. To be sure, neither Esprit nor Nike are doing anything unusual or sinister with their tracking and advertising. They’re just clothing stores going about their business and using Facebook pixel tracking to reach frequent visitors.
The Facebook pixel is an analytics tool that allows you to measure the effectiveness of your advertising by understanding the actions people take on your website.
You can use the pixel to:
- Make sure your ads are shown to the right people. Find new customers, or people who have visited a specific page or taken a desired action on your website.
- Drive more sales. Set up automatic bidding to reach people who are more likely to take an action you care about, like making a purchase.
- Measure the results of your ads. Better understand the impact of your ads by measuring what happens when people see them.
